Excellence in Faith and Health is the goal of Methodist Healthcare. Faith demands our best. Excellence is visible at the personal level in the work of each of our 10,000 staff. They come from many faith backgrounds and express their faith by the high standards of care they provide. Excellence is visible in the large commitment our organization makes to professional chaplains and to the ongoing work of training the next generation of chaplains. Excellence is visible in the way we develop our leaders, through training and continuing development. Excellence is visible in the way we combine all of these parts as we treat, provide and care for each person who comes through our doors.

Methodist Healthcare has been a healing presence in the heart of Memphis, Tennessee since 1918 and is one of the largest faith-based health systems in the world. It serves every kind of person to be found in the mid-South today: rich, poor, black, white, Asian and Hispanic. It is the largest provider of services to the poor in the State of Tennessee.  Ever seeking to expand and improve its care, the health system is committed to a wide range of partnerships with congregations and networks of all faiths.  We know this work must be not only merciful, but just; not only just, but excellent. In 2006 the Board of Directors of Methodist Healthcare created the Center for Excellence in Faith and Health to serve as an engine of research, reflection, innovation and training.

Most distinctively, excellence in faith and health is visible in the systematic way we develop partnerships.  We are owned by three Conferences of the United Methodist Church, our historic partners in ministry.  From this base we are building a network with hundreds of congregations and faith communities that will help us care for our neighborhoods and our patients, before and after they are technically ‘our patients.’  Excellence is dependent on the way we develop partnerships with some of the leading academic institutions in the world that help us do the research and teaching necessary to continually push the standard of excellence higher and the boundaries of care farther. These partnerships with congregations and academic leaders make it possible for us to be a healing presence in the community beyond the hospital walls. We see this as a work of life that goes well beyond the aspirations of a regular hospital. Our community and our faith deserve nothing less.